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Zoning
Zoning is a method of urban planning in which a municipality or other tier of government divides land
into areas called zones, within which certain land uses are permitted or prohibited. [1] Zones may be
defined for a single use (e.g. residential, industrial), or may combine several compatible uses.

Planning rules may be defined differently for each zone, determining whether planning permission for a
given development may be granted. Zoning may specify a variety of outright and conditional uses of
land. It may indicate the size and dimensions of lots that land may be subdivided into, or the form and
scale of buildings. These guidelines are set in order to guide urban growth and development.[2][3]

Zoning is the most common regulatory urban planning method used by local governments in developed
countries.[4][5][6] Exceptions include the United Kingdom and the City of Houston.[7]

Contents
Scope
Origins
Types
Single-use
zoning
Mixed-use
zoning
Form-based
zoning
Conditional
zoning
Zoning laws by
country
Australia
Canada
France
Japan
New Zealand The Zoning Scheme of the General Spatial Plan for the City of Skopje, North Macedonia.
Singapore Different urban zoning areas are represented by different colours.
The Philippines
United States
United
Kingdom
See also
References
Further reading

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External links

Scope
The primary purpose of zoning is to segregate uses that are thought to be incompatible. In practice,
zoning is also used to prevent new development from interfering with existing uses and/or to preserve
the "character" of a community.

Zoning may include regulation of the kinds of activities which will be acceptable on particular lots (such
as open space, residential, agricultural, commercial or industrial), the densities at which those activities
can be performed (from low-density housing such as single family homes to high-density such as high-
rise apartment buildings), the height of buildings, the amount of space structures may occupy, the
location of a building on the lot (setbacks), the proportions of the types of space on a lot, such as how
much landscaped space, impervious surface, traffic lanes, and whether or not parking is provided.

Zoning is commonly controlled by local governments such as counties or municipalities, though the
nature of the zoning regime may be determined or limited by state or national planning authorities or
through enabling legislation.[8] In some countries, e. g. France, Germany or Canada, zoning plans must
comply with upper-tier (national, regional, state, provincial) planning and policy statements. In the case
of Germany this code includes contents of zoning plans as well as the legal procedure. In Australia, land
under the control of the Commonwealth (federal) government is not subject to state planning controls.
The United States and other federal countries are similar. Zoning and urban planning in France and
Germany are regulated by national or federal codes. In the case of Germany this code includes contents
of zoning plans as well as the legal procedure.

The details of how individual planning systems incorporate zoning into their regulatory regimes varies
though the intention is always similar. For example, in the state of Victoria, Australia, land use zones are
combined with a system of planning scheme overlays to account for the multiplicity of factors that
impact on desirable urban outcomes in any location.

Most zoning systems have a procedure for granting variances (exceptions to the zoning rules), usually
because of some perceived hardship caused by the particular nature of the property in question.

Origins
The origins of zoning districts can be traced back to antiquity. The ancient walled city was the
predecessor for classifying and regulating land, based on use. Outside the city walls were the undesirable
functions, which were usually based on noise and smell; that was also where the poorest people lived.
The space between the walls is where unsanitary and dangerous activities occurred such as butchering,
waste disposal, and brick-firing. Within the wall were civic and religious places, where the majority of
people lived.[9]

Beyond the simple distinction between urban and non-urban land, most ancient cities further classified
land type and use inside their walls. That was practiced in many regions of the world. For example, in
China during the Zhou Dynasty (1046 – 256 BC), in India during the Vedic Era (1500 – 500 BC), and in
the military camps that spread throughout the Roman Empire (31 BC – 476 AD). As the residential
districts made up the majority of the city, that early form of districting was usually along ethnic and
occupational divides; generally, class or status diminished outwards from the city center. One legal form
for enforcing it was the caste system.[9]

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While space was carved out for important public institutions, places of worship, markets and squares,
there is a major distinction between cities of antiquity and cities of today. Throughout antiquity and up
until the onset of the Industrial Revolution (1760–1840), most work took place within the home.
Therefore, residential areas also functioned as places of labor, production, and commerce. The definition
of home was tied to the definition of economy, which caused a much greater mixing of uses within the
residential quarters of cities.[10]

Throughout the Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution, cultural and socio-economic shifts led to
the rapid increase in the enforcement in and the invention of urban regulations.[9] The shifts were
informed by a new scientific rationality, the advent of mass production and complex manufacturing, and
the subsequent onset of urbanization. Industry leaving the home was one major factor in reshaping
industrial cities.

Overcrowding, pollution, and the urban squalor associated with factories were major concerns that led
city officials and planners to consider the need for functional separation of uses. It was in France,
Germany, and Britain that the first pseudo-zoning was invented to prevent polluting industries to be
built in residential areas. Early uses of modern zoning were seen in Germany in the late-19th century.[11]

Types
There are a great variety of zoning types, some of which focus on regulating building form and the
relation of buildings to the street with mixed uses, known as form-based, others with separating land
uses, known as use-based, or a combination thereof. Use-based zoning systems can comprise single-use
zones, mixed-use zones - where a compatible group of uses are allowed to co-exist - or a combination of
both single and mixed-use zones in one system.

Single-use zoning

Single-use zoning is where only one kind of use is

allowed per zone.

Commonly defined single-use zones include:

residential, mixed residential-commercial,
commercial, industrial and spatial (e. g. power
plants, sports complexes, airports, shopping malls
etc.). Each category can have a number of sub-
categories, for example, within the commercial
category there may be separate zones for small-
retail, large retail, office use, lodging and others,
while industrial may be subdivided into heavy
Example of Single-Use Zoning Regulations (Greater
manufacturing, light assembly and warehouse uses.
Winnipeg District Map, 1947)
In Germany, each category has a designated limit for
noise emissions (not part of the building code, but
federal emissions code).

In the United States or Canada, for example, residential zones can have the following sub-categories:

1. Residential occupancies containing sleeping units where the occupants are primarily transient in
nature, including: boarding houses, hotels, motels.

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2. Residential occupancies containing sleeping units or more than two dwelling units where the
occupants are primarily permanent in nature, including: apartment houses, convents, dormitories.
3. Residential occupancies where the occupants are primarily permanent in nature and not classified as
Group R-1, R-2, R-4 or I, including: buildings that do not contain more than two dwelling units, adult
care facilities for five or fewer persons for less than 24 hours.
4. Residential occupancies where the buildings are arranged for occupancy as residential care/assisted
living facilities including more than five but not more than 16 occupants.

The earliest forms of single-use zoning were practiced in New York City in the early 1900s, to guide its
rapid population growth.[12] Single-use zoning is known as Euclidean zoning in North America because
of a court case in Euclid, Ohio, which established its constitutionality, Village of Euclid, Ohio v. Ambler
Realty Co. 272 U.S. 365 (https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/272/365/) (1926). It has been
the dominant system of zoning in North America since its first implementation.

The application of single-use zoning has led to the

distinctive form of many cities in the United States,
Canada, Australia and New Zealand, in which a very
dense urban core, often containing skyscrapers, is
surrounded by low density residential suburbs,
characterised by large gardens and leafy streets.
Some metropolitan areas such as Minneapolis–St
Paul and Sydney have several such cores.

The city of Adelaide, South Australia, contains an

urban core which, along with the suburb of North
Adelaide, is surrounded on all sides by a park, the
Adelaide Park Lands. The park was designed by
Aerial view of Chatswood, Australia, looking towards
Colonel William Light in 1836 in order to physically Sydney. The boundaries between low density
separate the city centre from its suburbs. Low residential, commercial and industrial zones are clearly
density residential areas surround the park, visible.
providing a pleasant walk between work in the city
within and the family homes outside. The task of
preventing the city's commercial district spilling over into residential areas is now performed by zoning.

Criticisms

Critics argue that putting everyday uses out of walking distance of each other leads to an increase in
traffic since people have to get in their cars and drive to meet their needs throughout the day. Single-use
zoning and urban sprawl have also been criticized as making work–family balance more difficult to
achieve, as greater distances need to be covered in order to integrate the different life domains.[13]

Euclidean zoning has been described as a functionalist way of thinking that uses mechanistic principles
to conceive of the city as a fixed machine. This conception is in opposition to the view of the city as a
continually evolving organism or living system, as first espoused by the German urbanist Hans Reichow.

The predictable model for dividing land use patterns generated by the Euclidean system have been
charged by many commentators as playing a direct role in a number of problems in land use planning
evident in the United States. It has been said that single-use zoning is a basic model that has not evolved

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to create appropriate solutions for the increasing complexity of social, political and environmental
challenges in cities.[14]

Problems attributed to single-use zoning are especially acute in the United States, with its high level of
car usage[15] combined with insufficient or poorly maintained urban rail and metro systems.[16] The
United States also suffers from greater levels of deurbanization and urban decay than other developed
countries,[17] and additional problems such as urban prairies that do not occur elsewhere.[18]

Mixed-use zoning

Planning and community activist Jane Jacobs wrote extensively on the connections between single-use
zoning and the destruction and displacement of communities in New York City, along with the decay of
municipal infrastructure and social capital.[19] Jacob's writings, along with increasing public
dissatisfaction with the attendant problems of urban sprawl, are often credited with inspiring the New
Urbanism movement and the ensuing body of literature concerned with solutions to uneven city
development.

To accommodate the New Urbanist vision of walkable communities combining cafés, restaurants, offices
and residential development in a single area, mixed-use zones have been created within some zoning
systems. These still use the basic regulatory mechanisms of zoning, excluding incompatible uses such as
heavy industry or sewage farms, while allowing compatible uses such as residential, commercial and
retail activities so that people can live, work and socialise within a compact geographic area.[20]

Examples include:

Melbourne, Australia[21]
Baltimore, Maryland [Baltimore, MD City Code, Art. 32 § 6-201 (2017). (https://perma.cc/23MS-2Q4
F)]
Saint Anthony, Idaho [St. Anthony, ID Municipal Code §§ 17.06.090-17.06.120 (https://perma.cc/5CK
Q-EJA7)]

Form-based zoning

Form-based zoning regulates not the type of land

use, but the form that land use may take. For
instance, form-based zoning in a dense area may
insist on low setbacks, high density, and pedestrian
accessibility. Form-based codes (FBCs) are designed
to directly respond to the physical structure of a
community in order to create more walkable and
adaptable environments.[22]

The French planning system is mostly form-based;

zoning codes in French cities generally allow many
types of uses.[23] The key differences between zones
are based on the density of each use on a site. For Paris, looking towards the high density district of La
example, a residential zone may have the same Défense.

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permissible uses as a mixed use zone. However, the proportion of non-residential uses in the residential
zone would be less than in the mixed use zone.

The city of Paris has used its zoning system to concentrate high density office buildings in the district of
La Défense rather than allow heritage buildings across the city to be demolished to make way for them,
as is often the case in London or New York.[24] The construction of the Montparnasse Tower in 1973 led
to an outcry. As a result, two years after its completion the construction of buildings over seven storeys
high in the city centre was banned.[25]

Conditional zoning

Conditional zoning allows for increased flexibility and permits municipalities to respond to the unique
features of a particular land use application. Uses which might be disallowed under current zoning, such
as a school or a community center can be permitted via conditional use zoning. Conditional use permits
(also called special use permits) enable land uses that because of their special nature may be suitable
only in certain locations, or arranged or operated in a particular manner.[26]

For example:

Local agencies can restrict the time, place and manner in which convenience stores, liquor stores
and fast-food outlets operate.
Community gardens can be allowed under specified conditions in certain zones.
As a condition of approval, large mixed-use development projects can be encouraged or required to
offer to lease commercial space for a grocery store in a neighborhood that lacks access to healthy
foods.

Zoning laws by country

Australia

The legal framework for land use zoning in Australia is established by States and Territories, hence each
State or Territory has different zoning rules. Land use zones are generally defined at local government
level, and most often called Planning Schemes. In reality, however in all cases the state governments
have an absolute ability to overrule the local decision-making. There are administrative appeal processes
such as VCAT to challenge decisions.

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State /
Planning framework Land use regulation
Territory
Territory Plan 2008 (http://www.legislation.act.gov.au/ni/2008-27/20110415-4
ACT Land Use Policy
7623/default.asp)
NT Planning Act Planning Scheme
Local Environmental Plans
NSW Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979
(LEP)
QLD Sustainable Planning Act 2009 repealed. Planning Act 2016 Planning Schemes
SA Development Act 1993 Development Plan
TAS Land Use Planning and Approvals Act 1993 Planning Schemes
VIC Planning and Environment Act 1987 Planning Schemes
WA Planning and Development Act 2005 Planning Schemes

Statutory planning otherwise known as town planning, development control or development

management, refers to the part of the planning process that is concerned with the regulation and
management of changes to land use and development.[27] Planning and zoning have a great political
dimension, with governments often criticized for favouring developers; also nimbyism is very prevalent.

Canada

In Canada, land-use control is a provincial responsibility deriving from the constitutional authority over
property and civil rights. This authority had been granted to the provinces under the British North
America Acts of 1867 and was carried forward in the Constitution Act, 1982. The zoning power relates to
real property, or land and the improvements constructed thereon that become part of the land itself (in
Québec, immeubles). The provinces empowered the municipalities and regions to control the use of land
within their boundaries, letting the municipalities establish their own zoning by-laws. There are
provisions for control of land use in unorganized areas of the provinces. Provincial tribunals are the
ultimate authority for appeals and reviews.

France

In France, the Code of Urbanism or Code de L'Urbanisme a national law, guides regional and local
planning and outlines procedures for obtaining building permits. Unlike England where planners must
use their discretion to allow use or building type changes, private development in France is permitted as
long as the developer follows the legally-binding regulations.

Japan

Districts are classified into twelve use zones.[28] Each zone determines a building's shape and permitted
uses. A building's shape is controlled by zonal restrictions on allowable floor area ratio and height (in
absolute terms and in relation with adjacent buildings and roads).[28] These controls are intended to
allow adequate light and ventilation between buildings and on roads.[28] Instead of single-use zoning,
zones are defined by the "most intense" use permitted. Uses of lesser intensity are permitted in zones
where higher intensity uses are permitted but higher intensity uses are not allowed in lower intensity
zones.[28]

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Category Description
Designated for low-rise residential buildings.
Category 1 Exclusively
Low-Rise Residential Permitted uses within these buildings include small shops, offices and
Zone elementary and high schools.

Category 2 Exclusively Designated for low-rise residential buildings with above permitted uses as well as shop
Low-Rise Residential
buildings with floor area up to 150 m2.
Zone
Category 1 Medium and Designated for medium to high-rise residential buildings with hospitals, university buildings and
High-rise oriented
shop buildings with floor areas up to 500 m2 also permitted.
Residential Zone
Category 2 Medium and Same as Category 1 Medium and High-rise oriented Residential zone, except shops and office
High-rise oriented
buildings up to 1,500 m2 are permitted
Residential zone

Category 1 residential Designated for residential with other permitted buildings including shops, offices and hotel
zone buildings with floor areas up to 3,000 m2 and auto repair shops up to 50 m2
Category 2 residential Same as Category 1 residential zone, except karaoke boxes are permitted and there are no
zone: longer building size restrictions in this zone.
Designated primarily residential with introduction of vehicle-related road facilities.

Same permitted uses as Category 2 residential zone with addition of theatres,

Quasi-residential zone
restaurants, stores and other entertainment facilities with more than 10,000 m2
of floor area and warehouses.

Designated for neighbourhood-based daily shopping activities.

Neighbourhood Same permitted uses as Quasi-residential zone with addition of auto-repair

commercial zone
shops with areas up to 300 m2.

Designated for banks, cinemas and department stores.

Commercial zone Same permitted uses as Neighbourhood commercial zone with addition of
public bathhouses

Designated for light industrial and service facilities.

Quasi-industrial Same permitted uses as Commercial zone with addition of factories with some
possible danger of environmental degradation.

Designated for factories.

Industrial zone Residences and shopping can be constructed but schools, hospitals and hotels
are impermissible

Exclusively industrial Designated for factories. All non-factory uses are impermissible.

New Zealand

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New Zealand's planning system is grounded in effects-based Performance Zoning under the Resource
Management Act.

Singapore

The framework for governing land uses in Singapore is administered by the Urban Redevelopment
Authority (URA) through the Master Plan.[29] The Master Plan is a statutory document divided into two
sections: the plans and the Written Statement. The plans show the land use zoning allowed across
Singapore, while the Written Statement provides a written explanation of the zones available and their
allowed uses.

The Philippines

The zoning system in the Philippines is explained in the Zoning Ordinance laid out by the Housing and
Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB), and the cities and municipalities are responsible for regulating
land use through ordinances created by each local government unit. The Philippine zoning system is
divided into 11 types based on density and usage, and emphasizes the most suitable use and orderliness
of the community. Definition of each density may differ between the ordinances of the local government
units concerned, so one municipality may define a light density residential zone to allow 4-storey
buildings, while another may only permit 2-storey buildings.[30]

Type Description
Intended or primarily used for housing. May be divided into low, medium, or high density
Residential
areas.
Socialized housing Mostly intended for housing underprivileged citizens, such as slum dwellers.
Intended for shops, offices and businesses. May be divided into low, medium, or high density
Commercial
areas.
Industrial Intended for industrial facilities. May be divided to light, medium, or heavy use areas.
Institutional Intended for institutional establishments. May be divided to general or special use areas.
Agricultural Intended for farming, aquaculture, and pasture.
Agro-industrial Intended for integrated farming and manufacturing functions.
Forest Intended for forestry.
Parks and other
Intended for places of amusement and integration of nature into the community.
recreation
Water Includes the municipal waters (seas and lakes), rivers, and streams
Tourism Areas dedicated for tourism activity.

United States

Under the police power rights, state governments may exercise over private real property. With this
power, special laws and regulations have long been made restricting the places where particular types of
business can be carried on. In 1904, Los Angeles established the nation's first land-use restrictions for a
portion of the city.[31] [32] In 1916, New York City adopted the first zoning regulations to apply citywide
as a reaction to The Equitable Building which towered over the neighboring residences, diminishing the
availability of sunshine. These laws set the pattern for zoning in the rest of the country. New York City
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went on to develop ever more complex regulations,

including floor-area ratio regulations, air rights and others
for specific neighborhoods.

The constitutionality of zoning ordinances was upheld by

the U.S. Supreme Court in the 1926 case Village of Euclid,
Ohio v. Ambler Realty Co. Among large populated cities in
the United States, Houston is unique in having no zoning
ordinances.[33] Rather, land use is regulated by other
means.[34]

Scale

Early zoning practices were subtle and often debated. Some

claim the practices started in the 1920s[35] while others
suggest the birth of zoning occurred in New York in Zoning scheme of the center of Tallahassee,
1916. [36] Both of these examples for the start of zoning, Florida, United States.
however, were urban cases. Zoning becomes an increasing
legal force as it continues to expand in its geographical
range through its introduction in other urban centres and use in larger political and geographical
boundaries. Regional zoning was the next step in increased geographical size of areas under zoning
laws.[37] A major difference between urban zoning and regional zoning was that "regional areas
consequently seldom bear direct relationship to arbitrary political boundaries".[37] This form of zoning
also included rural areas which was counter-intuitive to the theory that zoning was a result of population
density.[37] Finally, zoning also expanded again but back to a political boundary again with state
zoning.[37]

Types in use in the United States

Zoning codes have evolved over the years as urban planning theory has changed, legal constraints have
fluctuated, and political priorities have shifted. The various approaches to zoning can be divided into
four broad categories: Euclidean, Performance, Incentive, and form-based.

Named for the type of zoning code adopted in the town of Euclid, Ohio, and approved in a landmark
decision of the U.S. Supreme Court, Village of Euclid v. Ambler Realty Co.[38] Euclidean zoning codes
are the most prevalent in the United States.[39] Euclidean zoning is characterized by the segregation of
land uses into specified geographic districts and dimensional standards stipulating limitations on
development activity within each type of district. Advantages include relative effectiveness, ease of
implementation, long-established legal precedent, and familiarity. However, Euclidean zoning has
received criticism for its lack of flexibility and institutionalization of now-outdated planning theory.

Also known as "effects-based planning", performance zoning uses performance-based or goal-

oriented criteria to establish review parameters for proposed development projects. Performance zoning
is intended to provide flexibility, rationality, transparency and accountability, avoiding the arbitrariness
of the Euclidean approach and better accommodating market principles and private property rights with
environmental protection. Difficulties included a requirement for a high level of discretionary activity on
the part of the supervising authority. Performance zoning has not been widely adopted in the USA.

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First implemented in Chicago and New York City, incentive zoning is intended to provide a reward-
based system to encourage development that meets established urban development goals.[40] Typically,
the method establishes a base level of limitations and a reward scale to entice developers to incorporate
the desired development criteria. Incentive zoning allows a high degree of flexibility, but can be complex
to administer.

Form-based codes offer considerably more governmental latitude in building uses and form than do
Euclidean codes. Form-based zoning regulates not the type of land use, but the form that land use may
take. For instance, form-based zoning in a dense area may insist on low setbacks, high density, and
pedestrian accessibility. FBCs are designed to directly respond to the physical structure of a community
in order to create more walkable and adaptable environments.[41]

Criticism

Problems attributed to Euclidean-style zoning policy include urban sprawl, urban decay, environmental
pollution, racial and socioeconomic segregation, negative economic impacts and an overall reduced
quality of life.[42][43] Land use regulations associated with a high separation of land uses have also been
criticized as being fraught with legal obstacles to rehabilitating neighbourhoods affected by the
aforementioned problems [42] (such efforts are often referred to as urban rehabilitation or urban
renewal).

Much criticism of zoning laws comes from those who see the restrictions as a violation of individuals'
property rights. With zoning, a property owner may not be able to use her land for her desired purpose.

Along with potential property right infringements, zoning has also been criticized as a means to promote
social and economic segregation through exclusion. These exclusionary zoning measures artificially
maintain high housing costs through various land-use regulations such as maximum density
requirements. Thus, lower income groups deemed undesirable are effectively excluded from the given
community. "Although markets allocate people to housing based on income and price, political decisions
allocate housing of different prices to different neighbourhoods and thereby turn the market into a
mechanism for class segregation."(Rothwell and Massey 2010, p. 1141). In the American South, zoning
was introduced as an explicit mechanism for enforcing racial segregation of communities. Southern
planners coordinated with Northern experts in crafting racial zoning laws that would fit within the
emerging judicial precedent. Racial zoning laws followed the migration of Southern blacks northward
and westward.[44]

Examples of class or income segregation in the United States can be seen by comparing poverty rates in
the central city and the suburbs in the West, the South, the Northeast, and the Midwest. The Northeast
and the Midwest have more restrictive anti-density regulations. The lower incidence of poverty in the
cities of the West and South and the higher incidence in the suburbs are associated with their more
relaxed anti-density regulations [35]

Jonathan Rothwell has argued that zoning encourages racial segregation.[45] He claims a strong
relationship exists between an area's allowance of building housing at higher density and racial
integration between blacks and whites in the United States.[45] The relationship between segregation
and density is explained by Rothwell and Massey as the restrictive density zoning producing higher
housing prices in white areas and limiting opportunities for people with modest incomes to leave
segregated areas.[45] Between 1980 and 2000, racial integration occurred faster in areas that did not
have strict density regulations than those that did.[45]

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Rothwell and Massey suggest homeowners and business interests are the two key players in density
regulations that emerge from a political economy.[45] They propose that in older states where rural
jurisdictions are primarily composed of homeowners, it is the narrow interests of homeowners to block
development because tax rates are lower in rural areas, and taxation is more likely to fall on the median
homeowner. Business interests are unable to counteract the homeowners' interests in rural areas
because business interests are weaker and business ownership is rarely controlled by people living
outside the community. This translates into rural communities that have a tendency to resist
development by using density regulations to make business opportunities less attractive.

Some economists claim that zoning laws work against economic efficiency and hinder development in a
free economy, as poor zoning restrictions hinder the more efficient usage of a given area. Even without
zoning restrictions, a landfill, for example, would likely gravitate to cheaper land and not a residential
area. Strict zoning laws can get in the way of creative developments like mixed-use buildings and can
even stop harmless activities like yard sales.[46] Broadly speaking, if workers were able to move around
as freely as they could in 1964, US GDP would be 13.5%, or nearly $2 trillion, higher.[47]

Another issue with excessively strict zoning laws is that it may increase travelling distances, therefore
increasing traffic congestion, fossil fuel use, and pollution. For example, a person inside a large
residential-only area would need a long car or bus trip to enter a supermarket or an office building.

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom does not use zoning as a technique for controlling land use. British land use control
began its modern phase after the Town and Country Planning Act of 1947. Rather than dividing
municipal maps into land use zones, English planning law places all development under the control of
local and regional governments, effectively abolishing the ability to develop land by-right. However,
existing development allows land use by-right as long as the use does not constitute a change in the type
of land use. A property owner must apply to change land use type of any existing building, and such
changes must be consistent with the local and regional land use plans.

Development control or planning control is the element of the United Kingdom's system of town and
country planning through which local government regulates land use and new building. There are 421
Local Planning Authorities (LPAs) in the United Kingdom. Generally they are the local borough or
district council or a unitary authority. They each use a discretionary "plan-led system" whereby
development plans are formed and the public consulted. Subsequent development requires planning
permission, which will be granted or refused with reference to the development plan as a material
consideration.[48]

The plan does not provide specific guidance on what type of buildings will be allowed in a given location,
rather it provides general principles for development and goals for the management of urban change.
Because planning committees (made up of directly elected local councillors) or in some cases planning
officers themselves (via delegated decisions) have discretion on each application for development or
change of use made, the system is considered a 'discretionary' one.

Planning applications can differ greatly in scale, from airports and new towns to minor modifications to
individual houses. In order to prevent local authorities from being overwhelmed by high volumes of
small-scale applications from individual householders, a separate system of permitted development has
been introduced. Permitted development rules are largely form-based, but in the absence of zoning, are
applied at the national level. Examples include allowing a two storey extension up to three metres at the
rear of a property, extensions up to 50% of the original width at each side, and certain types of

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outbuildings in the garden, provided that no more than 50% of the land area is built over.[49] These are
appropriately sized for a typical three bedroom semi-detached property, but must be applied across a
wide variety of housing types, from small terraces, to larger detached properties and manor houses.

In August 2020, the UK Government published a consultation document called Planning for the
Future.[50] The proposals hint at a move towards zoning, with areas given a Growth, Renewal or
Protected designation, with the possibility of "sub-areas within each category", although the document
doesn't elaborate on what the details of these might be.

See also
Activity centre Planning permission
Agricultural protection zoning Police power
Context theory Principles of Intelligent Urbanism
Ekistics Reverse sensitivity
Exclusionary zoning Road
Form-based codes Single-use zoning
Greenspace (disambiguation) Spot zoning
Open space reserve Statutory planning
Urban open space Subdivision (land)
Inclusionary zoning Traffic
Mixed use development Variance (land use)
New urbanism Zoning district
NIMBY Zoning in the United States
Non-conforming use

References
1. Lamar, Anika (December 1, 2015). "Zoning as Taxidermy: Neighborhood Conservation Districts and
the Regulation of Aesthetics". Indiana Law Journal.
2. Urban Stormwater Management in the United States. National Academy of Sciences. 2009.
3. Hodge, Gerald (2014). Planning Canadian Communities. Toronto: Thomson. pp. 388–390.
ISBN 978-0-17-650982-8.
4. Caves, R. W. (2004). Encyclopedia of the City. Routledge. p. 784. ISBN 978-0415862875.
5. E.g., Lefcoe, George, "The Regulation of Superstores: The Legality of Zoning Ordinances Emerging
from the Skirmishes between Wal-Mart and the United Food and Commercial Workers Union" (April
2005). USC Law, Legal Studies Research Paper No. 05-12; and USC Law and Economics Research
Paper No. 05-12. Available at SSRN 712801 (https://ssrn.com/abstract=712801)
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7. "Houston Doesn't have zoning, but there are workarounds" (https://kinder.rice.edu/urbanedge/2020/0
1/09/no-zoning-in-Houston-there-are-workarounds/). Rice Kinder Institute for Urban Research. 2020.
8. E.g., Maryland Code Article 66B, § 2.01(b) grants zoning powers to the City of Baltimore, while §
2.01(c) limits the grant of powers. By contrast, the New Jersey Municipal Land Use Law grants
uniform zoning powers (with uniform limitations) to all municipalities in that state.
9. Hirt, Sonia A. (2014). Zoned in the USA: the origins and implications of American land-use regulation
(https://archive.org/details/zonedinusaorigin00hirt).

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University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-02598-8.
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DEVELOPMENT REGULATION LAW § 4.2, at 80. ISBN 978-1634593069. "in 1916 New York
became the first city to implement this type of zoning law, later upheld in Village of Euclid v. Ambler
Realty Co., 272 U.S. 365 (1926). “Operating from the premise that everything has its place,
[Euclidean] zoning is the comprehensive division of a city into different use zones.”"
13. Katharine Baird Silbaugh: Women's Place: Urban Planning, Housing Design, and Work-Family
Balance, Fordham Law Review, Vol. 76, 2008 Boston Univ. School of Law Working Paper No. 07-12.
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1/why-is-american-mass-transit-so-bad-it-s-a-long-story). Bloomberg. 2018.
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18. "What to do about the expanding urban prairie" (https://www.buffalorising.com/2010/05/what-to-do-a
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19. Jacobs, Jane. The Life and Death of Great American Cities. Vintage.
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21. "Commercial 3 – Victoria's new zone for mixed use and creative industries" (https://www.thefifthestat
e.com.au/urbanism/planning/zone-mixed-use-creative-industries/). The Fifth Estate. 2018.
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23. "How Paris is betting on mixed-use development" (https://www.jll.cl/es/trends-and-insights/cities/how-
paris-is-betting-on-mixed-use-development). JLL website.
24. "Londoners back limit on skyscrapers as fears for capital's skyline grow" (https://www.theguardian.co
m/uk-news/2016/aug/27/londoners-back-skyscraper-limit-skyline). The Guardian. 2016.
25. Laurenson, John (2013-06-18). "Does Paris need new skyscrapers?" (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/w
orld-europe-22811518). BBC News. Retrieved 2013-06-18.
26. "Zoning and Conditional Use Permits" (https://www.ca-ilg.org/hn-online-guide/zoning-and-conditional
-use-permits). Institute for Local Government. 2015.
27. Gleeson B. and Low N., Australian Urban Planning: New Challenges, New Agendas, Allen & Unwin,
St Leonards, 2000.
28. "Introduction to Land use Planning System in Japan" (http://www.mlit.go.jp/common/000234477.pdf)
(PDF). Ministry of Land Use, Transport and Infrastructure, Japan. January 2003.
29. URA Master Plan 2008 website (http://www.ura.gov.sg/MP08)
30. "4.15. Zoning Ordinance" (http://www.cookbook.hlurb.gov.ph/4-15-zoning-ordinance). Housing and
Land Use Regulatory Board. November 26, 2007. Retrieved January 15, 2018.
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33. "Houston Chronicle, 12-10, 2007" (http://www.chron.com/CDA/archives/archive.mpl?id=2007_44753

51).
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Jobs, and Education.
35. Rothwell, Jonathan T. and Massey, Douglas S. (2010) "Density Zoning and Class Segregation in
U.S. Metropolitan Areas" Social Science Quarterly. Volume 91, Issue 5, pp.1123-1141
36. Natoli, Salvatore J. (1971) "Zoning and the Development of Urban Land Use Patterns" Economic
Geography. Volume 47, Number 2, pp. 171-184
37. Whitnall, Gordon (1931) "History of Zoning" Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social
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38. 272 U.S. 365, 71 L.Ed. 303, 47 S.Ct. 114 (1926).
39. American Institute of Architects (2017). The architecture student's handbook of professional practice.
Hoboken: Wiley. p. 509. ISBN 9781118738955. "Euclidean zoning is the most prevalent form of
zoning in the United States, and thus is most familiar to planners and design professionals."
40. Residential Investment Property Term - Zoning | Commercial Real Estate Loan (http://www.webvest.i
nfo/glossary/dictionary_zone.php). Webvest.info. Retrieved on 2013-07-19.
41. http://plannersweb.com/wp-content/uploads/2001/04/265.pdf
42. Eliza Hall (2006). "Divide and sprawl, decline and fall: A comparative critique of Euclidean zoning" (ht
tps://lawreview.law.pitt.edu/ojs/index.php/lawreview/article/view/77). U. Pitt. L. Rev: 68.
43. Jay Wickersham (2001). "Jane Jacob's Critique of Zoning: From Euclid to Portland and Beyond" (htt
p://lawdigitalcommons.bc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1199&context=ealr). 28 B.C. ENVTL. AFF.
L. REV. 547, 557.
44. Thomas Manning, June and Marsha Ritzdorf, eds. (1997) "Urban Planning and the African American
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(http://racialequitytools.org/resourcefiles/silverracialoriginsofzoning.pdf)" Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage
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45. Rothwell, Jonathan T. and Massey, Douglas S. (2009) "The Effect of Density Zoning on Racial
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2013-07-19.
47. Hsieh, Chang-Tai; Moretti, Enrico (2018-05-07). Housing Constraints and Spatial Misallocation (htt
p://faculty.chicagobooth.edu/chang-tai.hsieh/research/growth.pdf) (PDF) (Report). Retrieved
2018-06-16. Lay summary (https://www.citylab.com/equity/2015/05/the-urban-housing-crunch-costs-t
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48. Hirt, Sonia A. (2014). Zoned in the USA: The Origins and Implications of American Land-Use
Regulation. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press. pp. 63–71.
49. "Permitted Development Rights" (https://www.planningportal.co.uk/info/200187/your_responsibilities/
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50. "Planning for the Future" (https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/planning-for-the-future.). HM
Government. 2020.

Further reading
Taylor, George Town Planning for Australia (Studies in International Planning History), Routledge,
2018, ISBN 978-1138372580.
Gurran, N., Gallent, N. and Chiu, R.L.H. Politics, Planning and Housing Supply in Australia, England
and Hong Kong (Routledge Research in Planning and Urban Design), Routledge, 2016.
Bassett, E.M. The master plan, with a discussion of the theory of community land planning
legislation. New York: Russell Sage foundation, 1938.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoning 15/16
10/5/2020 Zoning - Wikipedia

Bassett, E. M. Zoning. New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1940

Hirt, Sonia. Zoned in the USA: The Origins and Implications of American Land-Use Regulation
(Cornell University Press, 2014) 245 pp. online review (https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?i
d=43221)
Stephani, Carl J. and Marilyn C. ZONING 101, originally published in 1993 by the National League of
Cities, now available in a Third Edition, 2012.

External links
ZoningPoint (https://zoningpoint.com/) – A searchable database of zoning maps and zoning codes
for every county and municipality in the United States.
Crenex – Zoning Maps (https://web.archive.org/web/20081210023058/http://www.crenex.com/zoning
maps) – Links to zoning maps and planning commissions of 50 most populous cities in the US.
New York City Department of City Planning – Zoning History (https://www1.nyc.gov/site/planning/zoni
ng/background.page)
Schindler's Land Use Page (Michigan State University Extension Land Use Team) (https://web.archiv
e.org/web/20070715063537/http://web1.msue.msu.edu/wexford/LU/index.html)
Zoning Compliance and Zoning Certification - Analysis and Reporting (https://web.archive.org/web/2
0140617223349/http://www.faulkandfoster.com/services/real-estate-zoning-compliance/)
Land Policy Institute at Michigan State University (http://www.landpolicy.msu.edu/)
By Bradley C. Karkkainen (1994). Zoning: A Reply To The Critics (https://web.archive.org/web/20091
110024044/http://www.law.fsu.edu/journals/landuse/Vol101/karkkain.html), Journal of Land Use &
Environmental Law

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